Telcos and wireless providers said Fri. they were working to ensure viable communications if Hurricane Rita knocked out coastal Tex. operations centers. Verizon and SBC said they were collaborating with federal emergency management and had activated emergency operations centers. They had technicians ready to make repairs and had reinforced switching center offices with sandbags, plywood and other materials. Officials also were working closely with state and local agencies to coordinate emergency communications.
More than 50% of U.S. PSAPs still don’t receive wireless E-911 Phase II location information, the National Emergency Number Assn. (NENA) said. NENA released a report as part of a Transportation Dept. wireless deployment project. Lack of PSAP funding and deployment coordination remain the main roadblocks to Phase II implementation, NENA and public safety officials told us.
Telcos and ISPs dislike elements in House Commerce Committee Chmn. Barton’s (R-Tex.) telecom bill released last week, according to House sources who've met with industry representatives. But staffers said the draft was intended to elicit comment, with changes made if need be. Final comments are due Sept. 28, after which the bill will be set for markup, predicted in mid-Oct.
Telcos dislike franchising elements in House Commerce Committee Chmn. Barton’s (R-Tex.) telecom bill released last week(CD Sept 16 p1), according to House sources who've met with industry representatives. But staffers said the draft was intended to elicit comment, with changes made if need be. Final comments are due Sept. 28, after which the bill will be set for markup, predicted in mid-Oct.
The FCC should require broadcasters to provide emergency announcements in multiple languages in markets that include large numbers of people whose main language isn’t English, the Minority Media & Telecom Council (MMTC) told the Commission in a petition. MMTC asked the FCC, in its emergency alert system rulemaking, to require vital information be made available to non-English people. After Hurricane Katrina and as Hurricane Rita nears Florida, this material should be available now, said MMTC Exec. Dir. David Honig.
Comcast customers will use its VoD service 50% more times by year-end than the company had expected. Comcast now expects 1.5 billion “hits,” Co-CFO John Alchin said at a Banc of America Securities investor conference in San Francisco. Comcast VoIP is available to 12 million homes, and 15 million households will be able to get it by year- end. The service -- $39.95 for subscribers to 3 Comcast products -- will be “a new growth engine,” Alchin predicted. “We think [Comcast] will be highly competitive in the market” with Comcast Digital Voice, he said. Some 1,000 Comcast employees are working on the voice business; E-911, billing, provisioning and customer service “are all in place,” Alchin said. The company is providing “redundancy” for E-911, Alchin said. The introduction of digital simulcasting has helped boost certain revenue about $4 a customer monthly, he said. The company’s Enhanced Basic product, offering DTV and VoD at no charge, is reducing customer churn and not affecting sales of a fuller digital product that costs about $15 monthly. “It’s this product that’s going to enable us to drive the digital penetration beyond the 42% that it’s at now,” he said. Comcast’s VoIP is considered a primary phone service, said Charlotte Field, senior vp-national communications engineering & operations. Comcast, which has extensively tested 911 readiness, must have 3 paths of emergency communication under regulations in many areas, she said. Part of the e-911 service uses the firm’s existing circuit-switched equipment, said Cathy Avgiris, senior vp-Comcast voice services. “Comcast has been in the phone business since our merger with AT&T Broadband,” she said. “We understand how 911 works and how e911 works, and we've leveraged all of that experience.” - JM
The Bureau of Industry and Security (BIS) has issued a final rule which amends the Export Administration Regulations (EAR), effective September 16, 2005, by making certain revisions and clarifications.
Vonage, struggling to meet an FCC E-911 deadline, will use Level 3 Communications for enhanced emergency services. Vonage will use Level 3’s network for its connections to emergency dispatch centers. Level 3 has such access to public safety answering points serving 67% of U.S. homes, rising to 70% this year. The company is working to further build out that network, said Jeff Gaillard, dir.-local phone services, in an interview. Vonage’s contract with Level 3 will let it provide E-911 service to its million VoIP customers when they travel and use computers with broadband connections, said Stephen Seitz, vp-911 & regulatory affairs. There are many hurdles to providing e-911 service for all customers by the FCC’s Nov. 28 deadline, he said. “There’s a lot of back and forth that needs to happen,” said Seitz, who joined Vonage 4 months ago from the National Emergency Number Assn. The contract with Level 3 “is one key element for us to achieve this across the country, but we're going to have to go beyond that,” he said. - JM
Washington File reports that on September 9, 2005, Commerce Secretary Gutierrez announced a formal determination of a fishery failure in the Gulf of Mexico (including the Florida Keys, and the area from Pensacola, Florida to the Texas border) due to the major flooding, clogged waterways, damage to fishing boats and ports, and closed processing facilities following Hurricane Katrina. (Washington File, dated 09/12/05, available at http://usinfo.state.gov/xarchives/display.html?p=washfile-english&y=2005&m=September&x=20050912111545lcnirellep0.7358057&t=xarchives/xarchitem.html )
FCC Chmn. Martin will propose a new Public Safety/Homeland Security Bureau to “coordinate public safety, national security and disaster management activities within the FCC,” he said at the FCC meeting in Atlanta. “The Bureau will develop policies and rules to promote effective and reliable communications for public safety, national security and disaster management,” he said.